Meeting to discuss Bullock Harbour plans

A PUBLIC meeting is being held in Dun Laoghaire next week to discuss a planning application for the former Western Marine site at Bullock Harbour.

The meeting in the Royal Marine Hotel on Tuesday (January 23) at 7.30pm is being organised by the Bullock Harbour Preservation Association (BHPA), who have encouraged friends and supporters to come along.

In December Bartra Capital Property Ltd announced that a new planning application was being lodged with Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council for the site at the harbour.

Central to the development is a craft boat-building workshop/warehouse for the design, construction and storage of traditional timber boats.

The proposed development also includes a new public square, a café, maritime community changing facilities, new units for the existing occupiers fronting onto the harbour, two apartments, and three houses.

Bartra said a new public square will be offered to the council on completion of the development for taking in charge.

Bartra’s Development and Construction Director, Grainne Hollywood, said: “This submission follows considerable engagement with the council, council members, community groups, stakeholders, and interested parties over many months.

“Bartra and its expert team of property professionals have given careful consideration to all the issues raised in Bartra’s previously unsuccessful application for this site.”

Batra said the site, formerly occupied by Western Marine Chandlers, consisted of a cluster of derelict industrial buildings around a concrete yard.

 It is proposed to remove these buildings and to develop a series of new buildings arranged around a new public square fronting onto the harbour.

However, in a statement, the planning committee of the Bullock Harbour Preservation Association said they had made an initial examination of the new application and found that “many worrying features are still present, some almost unchanged”.

“Little consideration is given in the proposal to the history and heritage of Bullock and the character of the area, they stated.

“We continue to be concerned that the proposal will cause problems to the existing harbour businesses, users, visitors and residents.

“The proposal plans still include buildings that we believe to be too large and too intrusive for this sensitive location,” the association added.

“They include cube-shaped houses crowded together to the rear of the site.

“This is as well as a quayside development that will comprise a three-storey building at the end of the quay with pitched roofs to house a café and retail unit on the ground floor and two apartments on the first and second floors, plus a craft boat workshop and a small single-storey structure for community use.”

The association claims the three-storey building would be two metres higher than the previous proposal, and twice as high as the existing Western Marine grey and white quayside wall.

They also say questions regarding flooding and risks of overtopping have still not adequately addressed, alongside other concerns.